Anyone built a Catawba Ark?

[Woods_Woman]

Nice I love arks, here's a pic of mine I got off of CL a couple weeks ago. I have my 2 young EE's using it to grow out a bit, they love it.

 

[homeschoolmama]

That one is nice too. I can't decide. Now I am eyeing the kids old jungle gym structure to make something bugger and more permanent which means I could get MORE chicks!!! Will take a lot more time/energy tho and most probably more $$$ I'll have to convince hubby to help me......

 

[Garden Gal]

These are awesome looking! I have a dumb question... Are these "permanent" coops or used just to raise little ones up or more as a tractor type of item???

 

[homeschoolmama]

Hey Spangledcornish-
That ark looks simpler than the Catawba. How long did it take you to build? How many chickens do you have in them? Are the doors as shown easy to get into to fee/water/clean etc? Did you install a roost?
Thanks for the input

 

[Alabama ee]

Quote:
We live in Al, so I know what you mean about hot and humid and needing ventilation. We are building our Catawba coop with doors on hinges instead of the wood that slides off. I thought they would be easier to close and open that way. I will be able to open them up completely to clean, but it will also have kennel wire over part of the door that will function as strong screens. I will be able to close those, or keep them open. They will be safe inside, but it will be able to get a breeze going through the coop. I will post pictures as soon as it is complete.

 

[lauriruth]

i built one last summer. looks great, but being new to this, didn't think it through. i'm 63 yrs. old and this thing is sooooo heavy!!!! i now keep it parked in one place with crushed gravel under. (while i build another coop with a people door!) i have 4 standards and they are extremely crowed in this coop. by the time you put food, water, grit, oyster shell and snacks on the ground under the coop part, there is only a 4x4 space for them to move around.... it would make a great grow-out coop for banties...just make sure you are young and nimble enough to crawl around under the thing.

 

[renrag44]

I built about 14 of them last spring. The first one took me about 12hrs. By the time we made the last one it took us about 4hrs. I am a carpenter and have all the tools that a person would need. It was fun building them. Then it took a couple of hours to treat and water proof. I was into them approx. $200 for material. I would post some pictures if I knew how.

 

[haTHOR]

i made modifications to the catawba due to concerns about ventilation.

here it is in the snow

see it being built step by step here

 

[twead]

we built one thinking it would be perfect down the garden rows. Well, lets just say, we are looking to build something else. It is HEAVY! and if your putting it in soft garden soil, practically impossible to drag without equipment. It just digs in. I can move it one end at a time, but not lengthwise only crosswise. So this isn't practical for us, you can't have your garden rows 10+ feet apart. Also our first two flocks were too little to go up the ramp when we got them. They unfortunately became dog lunch. Then we got 6 Golden Comets at about 8weeks old and they didn't have any problem with the ramp. This gets moved everyday and they leave the area under it as bare earth, but then there isn't much pasture to speak of right now.

 

[Cluckin'Along]

I'm sort of in a temporary living situation right now, and I've been thinking of building an Ark so it can leave when I do... These pic's are great!! I think I'm gonna sit down and design one now!

Thank You for the inspiration!